Lukashenka admitted that people were killed extrajudicially in Belarus.

Aliaksandr Lukashenka disclosed some methods of fighting against banditry in the 1990s at a press conference for the Russian media on October 11, BelaPAN news agency reports.

“When I became president just after the collapse of the Soviet Union, it was an awful problem: transit routes go through the country, so we had to secure safety. The first case of banditry I faced as the president was on the road Moscow-Minsk-Berlin. I was told that bandits had stopped a car, killed the driver and taken the car. We didn't have a lot of Mercedes cars in those times. It was a rare car. Bandits wanted these cars. If they saw a Mercedes or an Audi, they stopped them under the guise of the police. If drivers showed resistance, they could kill or maim them. They then took the car and all belongings,” Lukashenka said.

A “radical decision” was needed, according to him. “We orgnaised several groups, gave them posh cars and made a trap on the road. If bandits resisted, we killed them on the spot. Three groups were destroyed and we have never had the fourth one. It's still quiet,” Lukashenka noted.

“Perhaps it's too brutal a method, but I didn't see another one to curb banditry. We didn't kill them in the toilet, we punched them in the face. They understood. Bandits only understand the language they use themselves,” the Belarusian ruler thinks. “But you mustn't go too far. If you act fairly, people will understand, if you don't, it will be even a bigger crime than that you want to eliminate,” Lukashenka stressed.